The only losses in Storm Boy’s seven-race career in Australia have been in Group 1 races. Otherwise, Storm Boy has won five times in three Group 2 or Group 3 races, a sales progeny stakes and a minor handicap.
Storm Boy won his lone start in the last five months by slightly less than three lengths in the Group 3 San Demenico Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds at 5 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney on Aug. 31.
Last year, Auguste Rodin was 3 when he won his fourth Group 1 race in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown Racecourse in Ireland. Auguste Rodin added a fifth top-level win in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita two months later in his next start.
On Saturday, Economics and Los Angeles, two exceptional 3-year-olds, start against older horses for the first time in the $1.37 million Irish Champion Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf.
Race 1: #3 Family Jewel, #7 Smart Beauty, #4 Midori Burly, #5 Mister Dapper
Race 2: #12 Ho Ho Star, #8 The Khan, #6 Dragon Delight, #9 Super Joy
Race 3: #4 Super Infinity, #9 King Oberon, #10 Affirm, #1 Exuberant
Race 4: #5 Cervin, #13 Charmander, #2 Perfect Peach, #10 Cool Blue
Race 5: #2 Aeroinvincible, #1 Enjoy Golf, #5 Handsome Bomb, #3 Coming Patch
Race 6: #1 Amazing Fun, #11 Crazy Treasure, #4 Regent Glory, #9 Hero Star
Leo Schlink
Packing Power and Helene Warrior have emerged as potential contenders for the lucrative Four-Year-Old Classic Series as Danny Shum continued a strong start to the season by taking training honours with a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (11 September).
Paul Lally:
R1: 2-7-8-4
R2: 8-2-5-3
R3: 1-2-4-6
R4: 8-1-5-3
R5: 5-7-12-8
R6: 5-1-7-3
R7: 3-9-4-1
R8: 9-2-8-10
Best Bet R6 N5 Double Win
Longshot R8 N9 Righteous Arion
Play R7 QQP 3-4-9
Tom Wood:
R1: 2-3-4-7
R2: 3-5-2-4
R3: 1-4-8-2
R4: 8-3-1-4
R5: 5-1-3-8
R6: 6-5-1-11
R7: 9-1-2-4
R8: 8-9-12-10
BEST: R5 N5 LESS IS MORE (WIN)
VALUE: R7 N9 GLORIOUS JOURNEY (EW)
PLAY: R5 QQP 1,3,5
By Declan Schuster
Vincent Ho has endured a difficult past 12 months but the affable homegrown jockey is eager to rebound this season.
Two falls interrupted Ho’s 2023/24 campaign in Hong Kong – a mishap in Japan which fractured his spine and then a second at Sha Tin. Ho finished with a creditable 41 wins, well below the 96 he rode in 2022/23, which netted staggering earnings of HK$160.2 million. It was also the first time since 2017/18 that Ho has dipped below the 50-win mark in a season.
Tribalist seized an early lead that he refused to relinquish and upset favored Charyn in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp on Sunday in Paris.
Five-year-old Tribalist, a Godolphin homebred trained by Andre Fabre, won his first Group race while making his 21st start, albeit with only two previous starts at the top level. Tribalist finished third to the Charlie Appleby-trained Godolphin colt Modern Games in the 2022 French 2000 Guineas, while on Sunday, the Appleby-trained Notable Speech chunked home fifth as the second choice in the Moulin.
The Japanese shippers Crown Pride and Remake each won Group 3 races on dirt for the second consecutive year in Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday to earn automatic berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
Both winners are trained by Koichi Shintana.
Crown Pride won the $1.07 million Korea Cup at 1 1/8 miles to earn a berth in the BC Dirt Mile. Remake won the $941,400 Korea Sprint at six furlongs to secure a berth in the BC Sprint.
Leo Schlink
Defying history and testing track conditions, rising star Ka Ying Rising continued an irrepressible advance through Hong Kong’s sprint ranks with record-breaking success in the HK$3.72 million Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (8 September).
Illuminating gloomy conditions in front of a crowd of 42,556, Ka Ying Rising (135lb) set a weight-carrying record in the season-opening feature to cruise to his sixth victory from eight starts, clocking a slick 1m 08.03s in good-to-yielding conditions.
